Ireland sits 172nd out of 217 in our world ranking, with a FiScore of 4 out of 10. A combined marginal rate reaching 52%, VAT at 23%: for an employee this is a heavily taxed country.

And yet it holds something the United Kingdom gave up in April 2025, a few kilometres away, in the same language, inside the European Union.

Two Irelands, depending who you are

Tax Rate
Personal income 20 to 52% combined marginal
Corporate 12.5%
VAT 23%

Twelve and a half percent on companies built the modern Irish economy. Fifty-two percent marginal is what someone working there pays.

Excellent for companies, severe for people. Unless you come in through the right door.

The Irish non-dom, the last of its kind in the EU

An individual who is Irish tax resident but not Irish domiciled is taxed on Irish income, and on foreign income only when it is remitted into Ireland. That is the remittance basis, as in Malta or Cyprus.

What makes Ireland unique are the two things it does not impose:

  • no time limit. Cyprus cuts off after 17 years. Malta charges an annual minimum. Italy and Greece sell a yearly lump sum. The Irish non-dom has no clock, provided you maintain a genuine personal and practical connection to your country of domicile.
  • no annual charge. Ireland never copied the remittance basis charge the UK used to levy.

Foreign capital gains for a non-dom follow the same remittance logic.

The UK abolished its own non-dom regime on 6 April 2025, replacing it with a four-year window. Ireland kept an unlimited one.

If you are British, read this twice

This is the most direct replacement available for what you lost in 2025.

Same language, common law, a short flight, EU membership, and a remittance basis with no expiry. For a UK taxpayer whose planning was built on non-dom status, Ireland is the first place to look, not the fifth.

The catch is that the Statutory Residence Test still decides whether you have left the UK, and Ireland's own residence rules then decide whether you have arrived. Both must be satisfied, and the year of departure matters more than the destination. Our guide on how to actually leave covers the sequence.

If you are American

Citizenship-based taxation applies, as everywhere. What Ireland does offer an American is a real 12.5% corporate layer and a comprehensive US-Ireland treaty, which is more coordination than you get in the Gulf or in Mauritius. The non-dom remittance basis is of limited use to someone the US taxes on worldwide income regardless.

Before you get excited

Domicile is not residence. It is a common law concept, acquired at birth, requiring a demonstrable lasting connection elsewhere. Someone who cuts every tie with their country of origin for decades risks being treated as having acquired an Irish domicile.

Remittance is broadly defined. Paying Irish costs with a card attached to a foreign account is a remittance.

Irish income stays on the scale, up to 52%. The regime protects what comes from elsewhere, not what you earn locally.

The drawbacks

Dublin is expensive and its housing market is in crisis, with rents at London levels for markedly worse stock.

General living costs are among the highest in the eurozone.

The weather, which has to be mentioned because it makes people leave.

The 12.5% is under pressure from the global minimum tax of 15% on large groups.

So, who is Ireland for?

  • Someone living on foreign income kept abroad: the best non-dom regime in the EU today, because it has neither a clock nor a fee.
  • A British taxpayer who lost non-dom status in 2025: the closest replacement in every sense.
  • A founder building a European company: 12.5% and a real ecosystem.
  • An employee on an Irish salary: no advantage at all.

The full table of Irish rates is on our Ireland page, and the comparison tool puts it next to anywhere else.

Sources

Figures and rules verified in August 2026 against the Irish Revenue Commissioners, PwC Tax Summaries and firms established in Dublin. An error reported to us gets fixed.

This page informs, it does not advise. Before deciding anything, talk to a professional who will look at your situation, as our terms of use set out.